Isles low in Hawaii has one of the highest percentages of public secondary school teachers who are not trained in the subject they teach, according to a Washington D.C.-based group's nationwide study.
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The study released yesterday by Education Trust focused on the 1999-2000 school year and looked at the percentage of public middle- and high-school classes taught by teachers lacking at least a minor in the subject. Hawaii had the sixth-highest percentage at 33 percent. The national average was 24.2 percent.
"That has been a concern we have raised because we want teachers to be teaching in their field of expertise," said Hawaii State Teachers Association President Karen Ginoza. "But unfortunately, because of a shortage, especially in the areas of math and science, we're not able to get teachers in those areas."
Department of Education spokesman Greg Knudsen noted: "It's a very real issue because there is no exception to the requirement of the (federal) No Child Left Behind Act. The expectation is that every classroom will have a qualified teacher.
"But the question that we're discussing now is, What defines 'qualified'?"
The Education Trust, a nonprofit organization that advocates for urban and minority students, said statistics on teacher qualifications had not changed since 1993. The study estimates that nationwide, one in four public middle- and high-school classes is taught by a teacher not trained in the subject -- and that problem is much worse in schools that serve poor and minority students.
The issue will receive broad attention this fall as the federal government, for the first time, requires schools to tell parents when their children are being taught by these teachers.
"It's clear that administrators have yet to get the message that they have to stop assigning teachers out of field," said Craig Jerald of the Education Trust. "Sure, shortages make it more difficult to tackle this problem, but there's good evidence that a lot of this is under our control."
Part of the education plan signed in January by President Bush requires that if an instructor is assigned to a subject he is not qualified to teach, the principal must send home a note informing parents within a month.
Jerald said the requirement "will create a hunger for the data reports that come out, and the data reports will embarrass state and local officials to do something on a systemwide basis."
Paul Houston, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators, said the issue is not that simple.
"It's not like people are sitting around saying, 'Let's fill these classrooms with people who are not qualified,'" he said. "If the people aren't there and aren't willing to work for these (school) systems, you're going to have a problem."
Ginoza said part of the problem is how administrators assign teachers.
"We have highly qualified teachers, but they're not in their line of teaching," she noted. "So one has to ask, Why is that happening?"
Knudsen said while the study brings up a valid concern, it does not address the issue of whether teachers with no minor in a subject might have years of experience. He added that the size of the schools must also be taken into account.
"If a small school only has one biology class, do we hire just one teacher for that position? You'd need a small army of teachers just for that school."
The report was based on a random survey by the Education Department completed periodically by about 55,000 teachers. The Education Trust examined responses from 16,000 secondary-school teachers in the most recent survey, from the 1999-2000 school year.
The group looked at whether classes in four core subjects -- English, math, science and social studies -- were assigned to a teacher who lacked a college major or minor in that field or a related field.
Twelve states had more than 30 percent of classes fitting that category. Five states -- Arizona, Delaware, Louisiana, New Mexico and Tennessee -- averaged more than one-third.
Houston said school districts should consider offering incentives such as tax credits to qualified teachers who are willing to work in such areas.
Richard Ingersoll, the University of Pennsylvania researcher who analyzed the data, said the problem is more serious in middle schools, which have "astronomical levels" of classes taught by out-of-field teachers -- 44 percent, on average. That rises to 53 percent in high-poverty schools.
In many cases the problem arises when a full-time teacher does not have the full five-course load in his field. Rather than hiring another part-time teacher, a principal might ask this teacher to take additional classes in a different subject.
"You're not going to let that teacher get away with just three classes," he said. "You're going to try and stretch your teacher resources to cover the wide variety of things that have to be offered."
Star-Bulletin reporter Rod Antone and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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